Decorating material



May 22, 1962 T. D. COLE DECORATING MATERIAL Filed June 9, 1959 United States Patent 3,035,330 DECORATING MATERIAL Thomas D. Cole, Lockport Mills Inc., Lockport, N.Y. Filed June 9, 1959, Ser. No. 819,046 2 Claims. (Cl. 28-78) This invention relates to fibrous material of the kind which is primarily intended to be used for decorative purposes.

Some types of decorative material for use in connection with the decoration of Ohristmas trees and other articles has been made of glass fibers to imitate hair which is desirable because it can be arranged in strips or formed into many decorative shapes but has the disadvantage that the glass fibers have very sharp ends which are apt to penetrate the skin or other membranes of the body and cause irritation and damage. Fibrous batting of cotton or synthetic fibers as previously manufactured could not be stretched or elongated without breaking down into small fluffs or balls.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a package of fibrous batting strips which can be stretched, elongated or flexed into various shapes or configurations as may be desired, the batting being made of a fibrous material which is in no way injurious to human beings or animals.

A further object is to provide material of this type which has been carded so that most of the fibers will be arranged in a direction generally lengthwise of the web and which has been cut crosswise into strips in which said fibers extend generally crosswise of the strips to make it possible to stretch the strips in various directions without tearing them.

It is also an object to provide an improved method of producing strip material of this type.

It is also an object to provide this material in the form of layers provided with paper or other material between the ends of the layers which does not become intermeshed with the fibers of the layers and consequently facilitates separating the strips firom each other.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, top plan view of a series of superimposed layers of material which has been carded to arrange most of the fibers of the material in a generally lengthwise direction.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the package in which a number of layers after carding have been superimposed one upon another.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a portion of a strip of this material.

FIG. 4 is a view of the strip of this material after it has been stretched in a lengthwise direction.

In the manufacture of my improved strip material, the fibrous material is first removed from bales of the same and arranged in thin layers by any usual method or apparatus ordinarily employed for this purpose. This relatively thin layer of material is then passed through a carding machine which acts on the layer of material in such a manner as to arrange many of the fibers of the layer in a generally lengthwise direction with reference to the direction of travel of the layer of fibrous material through the carding machine. Since a single layer of this material is quite thin, it is preferred for packaging purposes to superimpose a number of these layers one upon another, as shown in FIG. 2, the layers being transferred from the carding machine upon a conveyor or other support. When these layers are thus superimposed, the fibers of the several layers tend to intermesh with the fibers of adjacent layers so that it is sometimes difficult to again separate the layers from each other. However, in order to facilitate the separation or" the layers I place narrow sheets of ice paper which form tabs 7 between the edge portions of the layers 8 of the carded materiaL.

The layers, when placed one upon another on a conveyor or suitable platform are advanced to a cutting device, by means of which narrow strips 9 of the material are cut from these layers crosswise of the general direction in which the fibers extend, for example along line 10, FIG. 1, to formstrips of the desired widths.

The cutting of the material into strips 9 in this manner results in having the fibers in the strips arranged in a general direction crosswise of the strips, as indicated in FIG. 3. This arrangement of the fibers makes it possible to stretch a strip by pulling it in the direction of its length. This is illustrated in FIG. 4, in which the orig-v inal portion of a strip as shown in FIG. 3 is represented by the broken lines 11, and after pulling on the ends of this length of material the strip may be extended as shown in FIG. 4.

I have found that when a strip as shown in FIG. 2 with the fibers running generally crosswise of the strip, is subjected to endwise pull, the fibers assume angular positions with reference to the edges of the strips so that they extend diagonally of the strip. By means of the interlocking of the fibers during the longitudinal pull of the strip, the fibers reinforce the material of the strip in such a manner as to greatly reduce the tendency of the strip to tear crosswise of its length. FIG. 4 shows the fibers arranged in approximately diagonal relation to the strip. The extent to which the fibers will be inclined in the direction of the length of the strip depends upon the extent to which the strips are elongated.

Because of the number of strips produced in this manner to permit elongation without tearing crosswise, thin strips may be used for producing many decorative efiects which cannot be used by ordinary batting or untreated strips of fibers. This permits the strips, fior example, to be wound around various types of articles or to be arranged to extend in various directions so that the strips resemble flexible ribbons, diifering however from ribbons made of woven material, in that the strips may be stretched to a greater extent near one edge than near the other so that they can be made to assume curved or curled positions and can be twisted into ropes or other types of holiday decorations.

By inserting the paper sheets 7 between the edge portions of the superimposed layers, portions of these paper sheets will be present in the strips after they have been cut from the material along line 10. I have found that if these layers are separated by paper at the ends of the strips, the several layers of material can be readily separated from each other by peeling one layer from the other after the ends of the layers are separated. The provision of sheets of paper between adjacent layers consequently greatly facilitates the use of the strips for decorative purposes.

The fibers from which the strips are made are of a non-allergic, non-irritating and flame-resistant material so that this material is safe to use for decoration under any existing conditions, which is not the case when material of this kind is made of glass fibers.

The description of the fibers as being non-allergic and non-irritating is used to describe how these fibers would effect most people. That is, for example, glass fibers are irritating to most people because of their very sharp ends and consequently would not be used. The only essential requirement of the material insofar as the material of the strips is concerned is that they be made of loose fiber material which can be carded.

It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials and arrangements of parts, which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art, within the principle and'scope of the invention, as expressed in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A package of stretchable, decorative, fibrous strips, comprising a plurality of evenly stacked, superposed, long, thin, rectangular strips of carde'dfiber's, the length of the majority of said fibers in each strip disposed transverse to the strip length when said strips are in the non-deformed, unstretched condition, separating means extending between adjacent strips for facilitating separation of one strip from the next adjacent strip, and said fibers of said strips assuming a diagonal relationship with the longitudinal axis of each of said strips when said strip is stretched, whereby the package may be transformed from a compact unit into a plurality of elongated decorative strips.

2. A package of stretchable, decorative, fibrous strips, comprising a plurality of evenly stacked, superposed, long, thin, rectangular strips of carded fibers, the length of the majority of said fibers in each strip disposed transverse to the strip length when said strips are in the non-deformed,

unstretched condition, each of said superposed strips having fibers intermeshingwith fibers of the next adjacent stn'p, thin sheets of paper forming separating tabs disposed along an edge of said strips and extending between adjacent strips for facilitating separation of one strip from the next adjacent strip, and said fibers of said strips assuming a diagonal relationship with the longitudinal axis of each of said strips when said strip is stretched, whereby the package may be transformed from compact unit into a plurality of elongated decorative strips.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,490,929 Stewart Dec. 13, 1949 2,513,893 Ramsdell July 4, 1950 2,528,793 Secrist Nov. 7, 1950 2,588,725 Hogan Mar. 11, 1952 2,681,702 Kuenn et a1 June 22, 1954 2,774,127 Secrist Dec. 18, 1956 2,774,129 Secrist Dec. 18, 1956 2,794,238 Dildilian et al. June 4, 1957 

